The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-11-12

came towards the library, and, seeing
 the door wide open, walked in; and I,
 still gazing, saw his figure pass
 through that of the woman in the doorway as you may walk through a wreath of mist or smoke, only-don't misunderstood me-the figure of Maud
 till that moment had had nothing un- substantial about it. She had looked
 to me, as she stood there, literally and exactly like living woman; the shade of her dress. the color of her hair, the few ornaments she wore, all were as defined and clear as yours, Nina, at the present moment, and re- mained so, or perhaps became so again as soon as my brother was we'll within the room. He came forward, address ing me by name, but I answered him in whisper, begging him to be silent and to sit down on the seat opposite to me for moment or two. He did so, though he was taken aback by my strange manner, for still kept my eyes fixed on the door. had a queer | consciousness that if looked away it would fade away, and I wanted to keep cool and see what would happen. l asked Herbert in low voice if he saw nothing, but though he mechan- ically followed the direction of my eyes, he shook his head in bewilder- ment. And for moment or two he remained thus. Then began to notice. that the figure was growing less clear, at If 1t were receding, yet without OrnyUlnn emo ltnr fn ha ci,rht fainter and vaguer, the colors grew iazy. rubbed my eyes once or twice with half idea that my long watch ing was making them misty, but it was not so. My eyes were not at tault-slowly but surely Maud Ber- tram, or her ghost, melted away, till all trace of her had gone. I saw again the familiar pattern of the carpet where she had stood and the objects of the room that had been hidden by her draperies-all again in the most commonplace way but she was gone, quite gone.
 "fhen Herbert, seeing my intense gaze, began to question me. I told him exactly what have told you. He answered, as every common sensi- ble person, of course, would, that it was strange, but that such things did happen sometimes, and were classed | by the wise under the head of optical delusions.' 1 was not well, perhaps, he suggested. Been overworking? Had l not better see doctor? But | shook my head. was quite well. and l said so. And perhaps he was right. It might be an optical delu- sion only. l had never had any expe- rience of such things.
 "'All the same,' said, I shall mark down the date.'
 "Herbert laughed and said that was what people always did in such cases. If he knew where Mrs. - then was he would write to her just for the fun of the thing, and ask her to be so good | as to look up in her diary, if she kept one, and let us know what she had | been doing on that particular day ..the 9th of April, isn't it. he said when l would have it her wrath had paid me visit. 1 let him talk. It seemed to remove the strange, painful painful because of that terrible sadness in the sweet face. But we neither of us knew where she was, we scarcely remembered her married name! And so there was nothing to be done except-what did once, in spite of Herbert's ralying-to mark down the day and hour with scrupu- lous exactness in my diary.
 "Time passed. had not forgotten my strange experience, but of course the impression of it lessened by de- grees till it seemed more like curious dream than anything more real, when one day l did hear of poor Maud again. Poor Maud cannot help calling her. heard of her indirectly, and probably but for the sadness of | her story 1 should never have heard it | at all. It was friend of her hus- bands family who had mentioned the circumstances in the hearing of | friend of mine, and one day something brought round the conversation to | old times, and he startled me by sud- denly inquiring if remembered Maud | Bertram. l said. of course I did. | Did he know anything of her? And then he told me.
 "She was dead--she had died some months ago after long and trying illness, the result ofa terrible accident. | She had caught fire one evening when dressed for some grand entertainment or other, and though her injuries did not seem likely to be fatal at the time, she had never recovered the shock.
 "'She was so pretty,' my friend said, and one of the saddest parts of it was that l hear she was terribly dis figured, and she took this most sadly to heart. The right side of her face was utterly ruined, and the sight of the right eye lost, though, strange to say, the left side entirely escaped, and sec